


bones bared to the sun

by demonicxiconic



Series: one gay depressing year [2]
Category: CrankGameplays - Fandom, Unus Annus - Fandom, markiplier - Fandom
Genre: Bittersweet, Other, Queerplatonic relationship, Reminiscing, Surreal, accepting death, i dunno man i’m sad and gay and i like writing pretentious stuff about death, leaning more towards queer than platonic, so here’s a little drabble i wrote before/during stream, some funky stuff happens with time, still not crankiplier, this one’s a lot gayer than the last one
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-13
Updated: 2020-11-13
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:00:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 847
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27547237
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/demonicxiconic/pseuds/demonicxiconic
Summary: “At least one of us is gonna die.”the world in its kindness, and cruelty, and mercy, and unfairness, gives him what he always wanted; more time.
Relationships: Unus & Annus, Unus/Annus
Series: one gay depressing year [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2013607
Comments: 6
Kudos: 75





	bones bared to the sun

They’re standing in a field, or perhaps they’re on a beach, or perhaps they’re floating in the sky, or perhaps they’re nowhere at all.

All Unus knows is that it’s bright, and Annus, his darling Annus, is holding his hand, and he is grinning away the soot-black tears burning a path down his face as he leads him into the brightness.

There’s a dreamlike quality to standing in the spot where you will cease to exist, and Unus has never felt more asleep yet more wide awake. He doesn’t have veins, and yet he feels adrenaline pumping through his hollow shell of a body, he has no need for blood yet he feels his decorative heart beating an instinctive, desperate rhythm through his chest,  _ thisis-whereyou-die, thisis-whereyou-die, thisis-whereyou-die.  _ Even man-made constructs fear the end, he supposes.

**Is this the place?**

_ I think so. _

The wisps of Annus’s voice curl around his ears comfortingly, and his white suit practically glows in the light, and he is ethereal and magnificent, and Unus loves him. He feels two tears fall from his eyes at the same time, traveling quickly over his terrified, adoring, soft smile, and when he blinks them away he can see clearly.

They’re back at the camp, standing in a field of yellowed grass surrounded by a ring of trees, and Annus bends down, picking a poppy and tucking it into Unus’s breast pocket. Unus does the same, and when Annus runs his fingers over the petals, his smile wobbles, and he sighs shakily.

_ So this is our last hour, huh? _

**Don’t say it like that, I’ll cry all over your suit.**

Annus laughs weakly, pressing a soft kiss to his cheekbone.

_ It’s been an honor to live alongside you, my love. _

Unus sniffs as he smiles, taking his partner’s hand again and leading him to a sturdy tree, the same one Ethan had climbed all those months ago. Annus looks up at it, face morphing into something melancholy and reminiscent and sweet, and another tear falls, clinging to his jawline before dropping softly to the ground.

Even a hair’s-breadth away from death, he’s so full of feeling and beauty, and Unus loves him.

**It’s certainly been something.**

They both giggle as they settle beneath the tree, Annus’s head lying comfortably in his lap, and they talk.

They talk about the dance of Italy, and they talk about the tactical shovel, and they talk about escape rooms and caskets and scarecrows and tiny hands and skillets and cardboard cutouts and bad accents and mermaid tails and tears are shed and smiles are shared and suddenly there are three minutes left.

Annus sits up as soon as he realizes, grabbing Unus’s tear-streaked face in his hands, and they move together, and they are kissing, one last time.

It is beautiful and terrible and raw, and Unus has never felt more opened to the world, bones bared to the sun, vivisected and exposed by the feelings they share, the year they’ve spent, the time they watched fall away into nothing.

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, and as Annus crumbles away beneath his fingers, leaving only a memory on his lips, Unus loves him.

But something is wrong, something hasn’t happened, and he looks down at his distressingly solid hands in confusion, glancing back up at the pearly white particles that were his love as they fly to the stars, a handful of glitter thrown to the sky, and oh, he understands now.

Only one had to die for the year to be complete, and he remembers Mark’s words with a striking horror.

_ “One, or both, but at least one of us, is going to die, that much we know.” _

He had been naive, he had been  _ stupid _ , he should’ve known one would be left behind.

It’s getting dark in the clearing, and the glitter is still swirling around the blackened sky, a galaxy in miniature, and as he looks to the stars and sobs, Annus is still beautiful.

Even in death, Unus loves him, and his heart is overfull and shattering with bittersweet aching as he cries to the heavens for what feels like an eternity.

Time passes strangely in the place that looks like the camp. He may have sat for years or for hours, mourning his love, his light, his life.

It is still, and there is nothing, no breeze stirring the flowers, no sun traveling through the sky, no tears dripping to the ground, no smiles or sounds or thoughts left, when it happens.

Unus is completely alone when he dies.

But finally,  _ finally,  _ his fingers are beginning to crumble to ash, and he grins as he dissolves away, he laughs for the first time in eons as sun-bright white tears fall from his eyes and he is returned to the universe and to his love.

They are dead, and it is done, and their atoms will cling to each other and love until the sun burns out, in death as in life.

Even when he’s gone, even when Annus is gone, he loves him so.

**Author's Note:**

> i’m @demonicxiconic on tumblr if you wanna cry about ua with me :)


End file.
